How to Market Your Business on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is different from other social networking websites because it specifically caters to professionals who want to build connections, network and get industry news and updates from insiders. The average household income of a LinkedIn user is $109,000 and you can target by industry, job function, seniority, company size and more. It's not enough just to have your company profile on LinkedIn. If you want to take advantage of the power of this incredibly effective network, you need to be smart and strategic. Here are eight tips to make best use of this community for growing your business.
1. Connect the company profile with all the team members' profiles:
This will give your company profile additional exposure in their personal networks and could be the starting point to build momentum and interaction.
2. Remain active by sharing weekly updates:
To keep your LinkedIn connections interested in your company, it is important to maintain a continual dialogue.
One way to do that is by sharing regular updates that could be new blog posts, external communication, press releases, company events, etc. These posts can have text and can be linked to websites, images and even YouTube videos. Your connections will get the updates on their home page. Once any LinkedIn member comments on, likes, or shares them, his or her networks will also see the postings.
3. Use LinkedIn groups to meet target audiences:
One of the key strategies to reach out to specific groups or communities and start conversations is by joining LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn Groups recently got a major upgrade with the new LinkedIn mobile application. Actively participating in discussions has become much more convenient now. I find this most useful to keep the company visible with potential decision makers. You can join up to 50 groups, but can better focus on five groups at a time. Earn the trust of group members by sharing relevant, resourceful content that is about increases knowledge rather than promoting your products. Ask questions and respond to comments to take your conversation to the next level.
4. Advertise your LinkedIn company page
: It is important to integrate all your digital platforms to enjoy an advanced reach. That's why you should be sharing your LinkedIn company page on your website, other social networking sites like YouTube and your blog to direct audience from all these platforms to your LinkedIn page. In addition to this, make sure that if you do email marketing, that you have a link to your LinkedIn Company page in your e-newsletter or email template.
5. Get answers with polls and promotions:
Asking questions to a select group of professionals becomes very easy on LinkedIn with the ability to initiate polls and promotions. It is a great platform to promote specific ideas, products and solutions, as well as get opinions and reviews from your target audience. Here is a view of promotions posted by group members on LinkedIn:
6. Use LinkedIn tools for trending, relevant news:
LinkedIn Today delivers the day's top news, tailored to you based on what your connections and industry peers are reading and sharing. It helps you view the top headlines in your domain and pass them with your associates, customers and followers. It is unique as it gives three social views of professional news that don't exist together in one place anywhere else on the web. The ripple effect of sharing your content on LinkedIn can be endless.
A second tool known as LinkedIn Influencers has updates, views from hand-picked group of thought leaders and industry celebrities. You could use this to your advantage by integrating their researched statistics and well thought-out ideas in your updates.
7. Focus your advertising on LinkedIn with pay-per-click ads:
LinkedIn is a relatively new playground for PPC ads compared to Google which means that your ads have better chance of being seen. Better yet, LinkedIn's PPC ads let you target specific job titles, job functions, industries, company sizes, etc. As a result, you can clearly target your ads to people who are most likely to need what you sell. You select a demographic and location, then set a budget for individual clicks and total expenditure. This makes your campaigns extremely effective in their reach and outcome. The most crucial factor here is to test repeatedly. Try out different images, headlines and copy on your landing pages. Also, be sure to use tracking software to ensure you are measuring.
8. Use LinkedIn to post job openings for your business:
As LinkedIn is the biggest professional network, you could use its power to find best talent in your industry. Post jobs on your company profile and update your target groups. Groups are a great place to find candidates with specific skills. IT professionals, copywriters, .NET developers—you name it; there's a group for it. Be careful though. Storming into a group and filling the discussions page with your job ads will not spark a positive response. Your company profile is the perfect place to refer candidates you may want to hire in future as they may not be checking in on your website regularly, but they are logging into LinkedIn. How have you used LinkedIn to build your business network? Which features of this networking site have helped you promote and establish your brand?
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